Quickly and easily convert PDF to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Create a PDF from almost any file using the converter. To use, select the type of conversion. Locate the PDF file you want to convert on your computer (even if it is only in your download folder). Enter your email address. You will receive an email with a link to your converted file. Be sure to check your "junk filter" on your email in case it does not show up directly in your inbox. Click on the attachment and download your brand new Word file! Maximum file size of an uploaded file is 2MB.This site includes advertising.

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Ever find really neat activity sheets, but they need to be tweaked a little to make them work for your classes? This tool helps you save time by allowing you to edit PDF files in Word to avoid reinventing the wheel. (Beware of copyrighted materials, however). Science teachers can take lab activities and refine questions or add instructions as needed for their classrooms. English teachers can add standardized test prompts to preexisting general worksheets to tailor the activity to suit their state's test needs. This is a helpful utility for students entering contests or completing applications offered only in pdf form.

Practice angle and velocity with this interactive that takes you on a mission to send supplies to a village under siege. Once you have mastered a skill, the next task will be more difficult. Adjust the missile using settings for angle and velocity to launch the object over a wall and into the village. Options are available for setting a grid over the image as well as displaying data. Accuracy and timing will determine your score.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

This site would be perfect for use on your interactive whiteboard as well as on classroom computers. Demonstrate on your interactive whiteboard, and allow students to discuss the effect of making changes to angles and velocity. Use the game as a prompt for math journals. Have students write about their efforts in launching the object over the wall and their thought process as they made changes.

This blog offers ideas and resources to help substitute teachers make the most out of every day. It includes practical ideas such as what to bring to school as a substitute (who would have thought to bring your own "teacher-friendly" pencil sharpener?). There are also free k-5 lesson plans. The best part is all of the tips, support, and stories provided for substitute teachers "in the trenches." Although geared toward elementary teachers, ideas and suggestions are appropriate for any grade level.This site includes advertising.

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Regular classroom teachers might want to share this in their emergency lesson plans for subs. Substitutes, don't go into the classroom empty handed. Bookmark this useful website (or make it a TeachersFirst Favorite so you can find it anytime) and be prepared for the unexpected! New teachers and student teachers can learn from the many tips. If you are mentoring or working with a student teacher, share some of these ideas. For even more, be sure to check out Teachers First's Ideas and Resources for Substitutes here.

Looking for resources to use on your interactive whiteboard? If so, this site is a tremendous resource for all whiteboard users, not just those with a Promethean Board. View, search, and download from over 60,000 resources in all subject areas and grade levels. Use the Resources tab to search by state standard, content, grade level, or resource type. Register on the site to enable download ability as well as many other features such as saving favorites, reviewing resources, asking questions on the technical forum, following specific users, and uploading your own resources. Each resource includes a short description, grade level recommendation, file format, and size. Another great feature is the slide show included with each download for previewing different pages used on each chart.

In the Classroom

Before you try any of these activities, think about how you can make the lesson more student-centered. Find ideas in TeachersFirst's Hands off, Vanna! Giving Students Control of Interactive Whiteboard Learning . Browse the site for interactive whiteboard resources to download for classroom use. Bookmark and save favorites for later use. Download any resource, then tweak it to your individual needs. Have questions about creating Promethean Flipcharts? Post your question on the technical board to receive helpful replies. If you have a SmartBoard, be sure to check out the SmartBoard lessons and resources page located here. You will need to download the ActivInspire software (free).

Comments

This is the go-to site for Promethean flipchart downloads. Most files were created by teachers. The only downside is that the files are hit-or-miss. There are many gems, but you might have to browse some not-so-great files to find them.Tim, , Grades: 0 - 6

Highlight and share specific information within web pages with this application. Rooh it works instantly for highlighting information on web pages while web surfing. Automatically clip, collect, bookmark, and share online content via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and more with just one click. Create highlights using several different methods. Install the bookmarklet on your browser's tool bar then click the bookmarklet before highlighting information. You can also try entering rooh.it/ before the http of any webpage URL and your cursor turns into a highlighter. It is actually easiest to simply enter the site URL in the box on the main Rooh it page.

In the Classroom

Consider using this tool as a way to direct students to specific points of web pages. Include directions in your notes. Assign specific tasks, such as pre-reading questions using the notes feature. Even without "sharing" a URL, use this resource to keep track of specific points for discussion later. Have students use this tool for research papers and other projects. Share current events with others, highlighting specific points. Simply paste the highlighted URLs into a word doc to save and reopen later. Use this resource as an organizational tool for content found on the web. Have students annotate their own pages including their own pre-reading questions, main idea sentences, or summaries using highlighting and notes on a text-based page. Have them explicate poetry, annotate motifs in online literary works, point out fallacies in arguments used in blog posts, or highlight evidence of bias in web page content. They can "turn in" their assignments to you or share them with classmates by URL.

Keep a word document with the URLs to your annotated pages and notes about what they are if you plan to assign them to students. If you plan to use this as a TEACHER only, there are no safety/security concerns at all. Be sure to check with your IT department about installing bookmarklets and using this site on district computers. No registration is required. Encourage students to use this responsibly and not highlight information considered inappropriate for school.

Explore a world without sound, based on the Academy award-winning documentary, Sound and Fury. Explore one controversial option for breaking the silence: the cochlear implant. Click on the link "Deaf Culture" to learn about the history, sign language, finger spelling, and living with being hearing impaired. Discover how cochlear implants work and why there is controversy about them. Uncover the world of hearing aids. Lesson plans include the science of sound as well as deafness and diversity. There are several video clips provided that require RealPlayer.This site includes advertising.

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Include Sound and Fury as a resource in your unit on sound, diversity, or differences. Use on your interactive whiteboard (or projector), or at a center. Provide as a resource for students to explore at home.

Submit a suggestion on Tip Jar! Some of the general topic areas include food, finance, travel, kids & family, and others. Find money saving tips from organizations like americasaves.org, betterbudgeting.com, and choosetosave. Find tips for yourself, add your own ideas, and vote on the usefulness of specific tips.

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Include the tip jar as a resource with your unit on personal finance. Have students submit questions and comments for the tips, individually or using a class account. Use the TipJar idea as an model for tips on for classroom behavior, study habits, striving to be your best, and leadership qualities. Use the idea by creating your own Tip Jar Wiki for your classroom to share study tips, homework help, and more. Not comfortable with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.

Find your way to the "home of the best science demonstrations on the web." Included are videos, interviews about chemistry, physics, and science and "Extras." Find videos such Walking on Water, The Heisenberg Uncertainty, The Sweat Episode, The Bernoulli Effect, Inertia, Pendulums, Protein Folding and many others. Interviews with scientists give a clearer explanation of scientific concepts. If interested, subscribe by rss feed, email, or iTunes. Videos are mp4 files, so you may need to load a plug-in or "allow" your browser to play them.

In the Classroom

Use as a reinforcement or enrichment tool, depending on the students' needs. Embed or link to relevant videos on your website, blog, or wiki for students to view (and review) outside of the classroom. Share the videos on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and use as an anticipatory guide for science concepts presented -- or even as a review. Use as a creative example of a presentation in a subject area content. Challenge students to create their own videos about a specific science topic. Share the videos on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here.

Take advantage of this FREE online plagiarism checker. Scroll down slightly to find the text entry boxes. Copy and paste your text to be checked or upload the file as a .txt file (maximum 1000 words) . Choose whether the quotes will be checked as a group of words (Without Quotes) or as a quote by clicking the appropriate button. Choose your choice of search engine: Google, Yahoo, MSN, or other. When choosing between the Advanced search option and New Version, the New Version option appears to provide the best results.This site includes advertising.

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Students can use this plagiarism checker to be sure they are turning in original work. Teachers can use this service to check the work of students (if submitted electronically). Model this site to explain what plagiarism IS and how students can avoid it. Share this site at the beginning of the school year. The hands-on experience will help them understand this challenging concept. You might even want to provide several examples of plagiarized writing as an exercise for student to check and correct before they copy/paste their way to trouble in a research assignment. Another interesting exercise for researchers is to locate an article on a how-to topic, such as "How to Paint a Room," then see how many sites use the exact same text. As a class, discuss whether this proliferation is good or bad (is the web spreading misinformation, too?).

qFlick is an easy to use Flickr image search presented in an appealing slideshow format. Search in many ways, such as most interesting images of the day or archived images of the day. Search for specific images using the search box at the top of the page by text or user. Enhance learning about copyright issues by using the advanced search to filter for no known copyright issues, United States government work, and more. The advanced search can also be used to filter images by date. Images can be shared via Facebook and Twitter, or choose the icon taking the user to the item's original Flickr page. NOTE: Since Flickr is a public photo sharing site, photos are not filtered for appropriateness for young people. This search tool should be used under direct adult supervision or after very clear discussion about what types of searches are appropriate. As with a dictionary, what you find depends on what you "look up."

In the Classroom

Use the site to search for images to use with classroom projects. Share the site on your interactive whiteboard to demonstrate use. Choose an interesting image to display on your interactive whiteboard as a creative story starter to to begin class discussion of any topic. Share through your classroom website or newsletter for use at home.

In the Classroom

Use when studying inventions and the industrial revolution. Today's inventions can be compared to inventions of the past. Students can explain how one of the innovations work or imagine the creation of a mashup of two of these inventions into a brand new gadget. Create an advertising campaign to sell these inventions. Ask students how they would improve on these gadgets. Discuss which gadgets are still being offered today and the improvements that were made on them. Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here.

Do you have favorite websites and want to find others that are similar? WebsitesLike is just the thing! Simply type or paste in a website url or keyword to generate a list of similar websites. Receive up to 50 alternatives that may meet your needs. How does it work? Web sites have hidden "metadata" visible to search engines, such as keywords and brief descriptions. This tool compares to find others with similar metadata.

In the Classroom

Use this site for professional purposes to find materials to use in your classroom. You could provide this link to students to use during research projects or even to find additional remediation help for a challenging topic. Demonstrate the site on your interactive whiteboard or projector.

LiveTyping is a text recorder that records as you type. It records absolutely everything entered, typos, deleted letters, new versions... etc. When finished, click "Enliven" button to replay what you typed. Use links to view the text as a picture link (animated gif format), obtain code to place in a website or blog, or code for use in a forum. Options include choices of font type and size, typing speed, and size of image. Note that the link to "Truly Lives" displays what others are typing or have typed. These may not be appropriate for young people, so avoid this area. Play a sample here.This site includes advertising.

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Use LiveTyping on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as an interesting way to demonstrate editing or improving sentence/paragraph writing. Type or copy/paste in text, make editing changes, then "Enliven" to save the image or to replay the finished product. Have students do the same to show their own editing/revision process. Teach about different types of sentences (simple, compound, complex, etc.) by typing with this tool and sharing the examples on your class web page, showing how to combine sentences or improve sentence variety. Compose paragraphs and improve the topic sentence LIVE with "instant replay" for students to see how the writing/thought process can work. Then have them make their own in class or for homework. Use the codes provided to embed or save completed examples on your class website, wiki, or blog for students to view at home. Use different examples for students to use as a resource for editing decisions. During poetry month or a poetry unit, challenge students to write a haiku "live" or to add figurative language to a simple line of poetry "live" as we watch.

Demonstrate note-taking or composing a "main idea' sentence as a class after reading a passage and share the final product as an example. What a great tool for science or social studies literacy for Common Core!

Teachers could share tonight's homework assignment using this engaging tool and share it on the class web page in hopes that students might actually DO it!

TagCrowd is a web application to visualize word frequencies in any text through creation of a word cloud, text cloud, or tag cloud. Simply type or paste in any text, import from any website, or upload a file to begin the word cloud. Choose from options such as language to use, limit number of words, exclude words based on frequency, or exclude unwanted words. Save as a PDF, print, or embed the finished image using links included with the finished product. The most frequently used words appear larger and in a bold font.

In the Classroom

This is a great visual tool to use. Take a poll and have your students type their answers into the word cloud builder. Then display on an interactive whiteboard or projector and see which answer was the most popular. Use this site as a way to help students see and memorize text, especially visual learners. Use it also when writing poetry or to "see" themes of repeated words and images. Have students paste in their own writing to spot repeated (and monotonous) language when teaching lessons on word choice. Use this site to surprise students with words that appear often in their writing. Have students work in groups to create word posters of vocabulary words with related meanings, such as different ways to say "walk" or "said" and decorate your classroom with these visual reminders of the richness of language. More ideas for primary grades: Dolch words, class names, numbers to 20, words with the same beginning letters, collection of ALL the words that hang in the classroom (so students can walk around and find/touch them on a laminated Word cloud card in their hands), or any collection of similar words.

This site offers many news articles, all positive and upbeat. In addition to current news stories, you will also find articles about charities, organizations that demonstrate social responsibility, sustainable travel, and inspirational events. The reading level is reasonable for high school students. You can comment on any articles you read and read the comments of others. Articles are available in printable form as well as online. The site requires a free and easy registration; why not do a registration for your entire class instead of individual students. A link to "Optimist TV" adds a video component to the news.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this tool for you and your students to find articles related to science, social studies, and cultural topics you are studying. Share the TV clips on your interactive whiteboard or projector, for some "happy news" to share with your students. To teach about the subtleties of "spin," have students select, read, and compare two articles on the same subject (possibly one with a more neutral or negative spin?). What makes the article positive? Have small groups of students take turns presenting weekly news. Use articles as practice for finding main idea and other comprehension skills. Create a selection of stories as writing prompts for persuasive writing pieces. Collect news sources related to an upcoming election to follow in a civics/government class. Have students create an online presentation on their selected news topics from categories you've assigned for your classroom news. Use one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here.

Find curriculum integration ideas on the books of Brian Selznick's Wonderstruck and The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The site contains lesson plans, videos, and virtual field trips.This site includes advertising.

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Using your interactive whiteboard or projector go on three virtual field trips to visit the Museum of Natural History. Then use the activities to have your students work in collaborative groups. Be sure to check out the Novel Notes activity. Have your students use the Letter Writing Generator reviewed here to write their own letters.

Quipper is a wonderful quiz maker. Click the "Make Your Own Quiz" to get started. The quizzes then are approved by the website and published as an App available via Google Play or at the Apple App Store. Make your own multiple choice quiz and easily add images and files. Quizzes can be made public or private by the creator. You can also add explanations to accompany the answers. Quizzes can be made by entering each question separately or uploading a spreadsheet of questions and answers. Be sure to make your quiz in advance to allow time for it to be available through the app. The site states that it takes approximately 24 hours for a quiz to appear as an app. Note: the home page may display a quiz that is not classroom appropriate, so this tool is for ADULT use in creating quizzes or for use under adult supervision. Click to RELOAD the page if a quiz is showing that you do not wish to share with younger users.

In the Classroom

Use this tool for creating practice quizzes for your students to take on their Android and iOS devices. Students can save their place in the quiz and return to it later. Students can also review previously taken quizzes. Pretest your gifted students and allow them to "test out" of material they already know. Use as a formative assessment to see what material needs more review with classes. Have students each write a review question and combine them to create a quiz together as a class during review days a few days prior to a major test or semester final. Students can take the quiz on their own for at-home study.

See a near-live, "overhead" view of the winds in the continental U.S. The information is updated hourly from the National Weather Service's forecast database. The wind looks like white and grey strands and is mesmerizing to watch. Watch the wind patterns constantly changing. View previous wind patterns (especially those of particularly blustery days) from the gallery. The site recommends using the latest Chrome browser.

In the Classroom

Watch the various wind patterns across the US. Ask students what they notice about the patterns and what could be causing them. Use this as an introduction into a weather unit or as part of the study of wind energy and alternative power. If students could map the wind around their house or community, how would they draw it? Be sure to share this site during March, when talking about the "lion" and "lamb" metaphor and the changing weather! Be sure to check it out during hurricane season, as well.

Use this free and simple tool to edit your photographs. Find tools including: crop, rotate, exposure changes, color adjustment, resizing, and sharpening/blurring. Use other included effects such as touch up and blemish removal. Add text and include overlays and borders on the photo. The all important Undo button is also useful. Upload your picture, edit and manipulate it, then re-save back to your computer.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

This tool is so simple to use! Use it to edit pictures for class projects or for publishing to a blog, wiki, or site. Use these fun photo effects for creating interesting pictures for About Me information on a blog or other sites. In primary grades, teachers can use it to edit pictures you can share on your class web page, perhaps a student of the week. Use for pictures of lab events in science. These pictures can be incorporated into presentations or other multimedia products using online tools or PowerPoint. Students can dress as a historical figure, take and upload a picture, and use in classroom projects. Have students upload a photo add voice bubbles to explain what they learned using a tool such as Superlame, reviewed here. Be sure to check district policy about using student pictures, though the website does not "keep" them. If using pictures from the Internet, be sure to discuss copyright issues and approve pictures that students use. Find Creative Commons they can use (with proper credit) on Compfight, reviewed here.

Know your Einstein from your Eddington with this informative site that profiles some of the greatest scientists. Learn about their contributions to science and society and how their discoveries affect us today. Don't click on the underlined words; this does NOT provide definitions. Instead it brings up advertisements.This site includes advertising.

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The reading level of this site is rather challenging. Have weaker readers work together with stronger ones. While discussing scientists and inventors, use this site as a resource for gathering information. Have small groups of students research scientists from the same time period. Have them research their contributions including reactions of others to their discovery or invention. Research why these inventions were particularly important and the scientific knowledge that changed as a result. Have them present their findings to the class by creating a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Then, if you would like to take your students critical thinking up a notch, you could have the small groups compare the different inventions and decide how and why the earlier inventions had to come before a later invention could be developed. For this you might want to have students use a collaborative graphic organizer like Canva, reviewed here, and have them report out their thoughts and discoveries to the class.